Monday, May 24, 2010

Chatroulette + FarmVille + Facebook = ChatVille

There’s a new Chatroulette spinoff in town, ChatVille. It’s a Facebook app that combines the basic video chat elements of Chatroulette with the game mechanics, badges and leveling up functionality of casual games like FarmVille.

Just like in Chatroulette, you have the opportunity to get paired up with a total stranger — but since the app can also take advantage of your Facebook () social graph, you can also invite specific friends to chat with you as well. Plus, in chatting with either strangers or friends, you have the opportunity to earn badges for specific actions, like taking your first screenshot or getting a “compliment” from another user.

The app also features some other extra features like a built-in screenshot function, which can then be posted on your Facebook wall. Another extra feature quickly turns your webcam into an ad hoc photobooth; the results are also postable to your Facebook wall.

Built by the same team that made the popular instant messaging desktop client Digsby (), many are already calling ChatVille “Chatroulette done right.” It’s certainly not the first Chatroulette clone we’ve seen, but it is unique for tapping into Facebook as an underlying social platform. Considering it stands to benefit greatly from the sharing of badges and accomplishments within the app, it will be interesting to see if or how fast this spreads as a much less “awkwardly adult-oriented” version of Chatroulette.

Have you had a chance to check out ChatVille yet? If so, what do you think of the app and how does it compare to experiences you may have had on Chatroulette?